Summer,1996 - Zilla II is complete. Karen tells me its the last aquarium I can build in the current house. November 16th, 2002 - I put a contract on a new house with a LARGE basement! Expect to close on new home in April or May. November 17th, 2002 - basic design of Zilla III complete: Octogonal about 12 feet in diameter. Wall height of 42.5 inches. Three panels of glass, each about 4' wide and 3' tall facing main display room. Started investigating Starphire glass. Based on feedback from PPG, its as strong as regular glass. December 22nd, 2002 - JustJoe recommends H lift tube design. Been thinking more along the lines of having the lift tubes just "bubble up" like small springs through the top of the RCSD, then run over the RCSD and exit at water level. Also wondering about building the RCSD as removable, with slide in parts that are just siliconed for air tightness. Water could be directed along the back (across the front of the sump) to give it additional de-bubble time. System 3 claims their epoxy is fine for floors. Suspect I'll use a brown Lowe's type of material. February 15th, 2003 - Footings and Walls poured in new house. Close date now expected in June (late?). Market sucks, options and S&P savings way down - fear for aquarium funding. July 10th, 2003 - Closed on new house. Basement floor poured about a month ago. Internet connection alive before bed was delivered . July 19th, 2003 - Put first coat of Rustoleum Epoxy Basement floor sealant on. Looks good, but a second coat will be needed in the viewing area. August 14th, 2003 - Cashed out (last day) of Pfizer stock options. Lost 50% of their value in last 2 days compliments of a competitor to Lipator getting FDA approval. Final check for (4) years of Management Options will be $3143. With 20-20 hindsight, I should have cashed out in June when it was worth about $20K - kept waiting for it to recover, it never did and the clock ran out. This will hurt, I'll need to postpone furniture, sprinkling systems, and the like and tap into reserves to build tank. Initiated conversation around mixing own salt mix. Said conversation is on-going, but have a half-dozen receipes at this point. August 19th, 2003 - Preparing to stud walls with Kevin Pastor (next door neighbor). Helped him build his deck over the past month, he will help stud out the basement walls. Starting to track down Starphire glass. PPG pointed me to Oldcastle Glass in Warrenton. They pointed me to St. Charles Glass in Wentzville (636/332-5339) and Missouri Valley Glass (636/946-0900). Almost got excited. St. Charles quoted by $455 for the (3) pieces (2@39x39, 1@75x39). Ended up being for 1/4" instead of 3/4"... awaiting a call back. Oldcastle e-mailed saying they only had 1/2". Have asked about special orders. Epoxy Book notes: Use #2 hardener for work between 60F and 85F. Use 4-6oz fiberglass cloth either volan or silane - no real difference. Use microballonss to smooth surface prior to fiberglassing. Use rubber Thalco squeegee to wet out fiberglass. Don't overclamp and squeeze our the resin! 250 sq-ft/gal first coat 400 sq-ft/gal other coats 130 sq-ft/gal 6 oz cloth first coat 250 sq-ft/gal second coat 10 oz of mini-fibers to make a gallon of firm paste. August 28th - Ordered Epoxy, Fiberglass, tools, etc. $1270 + shipping. September 5th-7th - Attended MACNA XV. Talked to Julian and others several times: A) Currently thinking about a 5-6" mixed grade sand bed. I'll use the gravel I current have and add several tons of the argonite play sand. B) Really have to set up a coral grow out tank. C) Want to try and grow sea-grass just for the challenge - will need a dedicated refugia for it. D) Jeff Turner confirmed that PPG doesn't sell 3/4" anymore, will hook me up with some other brand. E) Was requested by Omaha club to present the construction story. F) Nix the planned anenome community - when they mature, it will drop to 2. G) Should build the bulk of the structure dry, then add existing rock and wildlife. Still contemplating general internal layout. Thinking that the Florida mined limestone (aragonite) should be good. Perhaps Jeff could help. October 3rd - Received quote for Diamante galss from TBM. Looks like about $2100 for the three pieces plus ~$500 for crating and shipping. October 8th - TBM wants about 2 weeks notice. Will hold off for awhile in hopes of a market recovery. October 10th-14th - Work-a-thon. Spent 4 days trying to get the basement ready to paint. Didn't make it, but did get all but the electrical room drywalled. Still need to do windows and final muddings, but things are roughed in. Finished plan while Kevin next-door was applying 2nd coat of mud. Built stand for coral grow out and have both grow-out and isolation ready for silicon. October 18th-19th - did a light sanding and finished second coat on all seams. Finished electrical for area outside of electrical room (mostly the workbench area and adjoining walls). Have shoplights hung and electrical room's light working on a wall switch now. Karen suggested drying the back of the formal bathroom downstairs - I went ahead and did that and started the mudding. Dad came over and helped with the electrical. We also cut up the old overflow and made the major pieces for the refugia. Finished drywalling the windows. With Karen and the girls help, siliconed together the isolation tank and coral grow out tank. October 24 - Got home about 3:30pm today (a Friday). Applied final coat of mud to all seams. Made it to bed at 1am. (about 8 hours of "after-work" work). Water tested the isolation and coral grow out. Isolation has a very small, pressure activiated pinhole in base seam. Coral grow out has a larger leak around the original seam - no surprise. Drained both. Annoyed that water flow AWAY from local floor drain - what a pain. October 25 - Forced myself to sleep in until 8:30. Updated this journal prior to sanding. Hope to sand, shower, and cleanup basement in preparation for painting. October 26 - Did some more fine sanding. Purchased paint (10 gallons of primary - tinted by the helpful salesman, 5 gallons light blue for ceiling, 5 gallons slightly darker blue for walls), paint gun, and some lumber and bols to wrap up the refugia stand. Swept and vacumed the basement. Carried paint downstairs and hurt back doing so. October 27 - Dead stop. Went to Urgent Care for back. Can walk or sit, had to use funiture to support myself getting out of bed. Suspect it was the jarring associated with carrying two buckets of paint down the stairs at a time. November 2nd - primed walls, cleaned up a bit. Still on pain medication and muscle relaxants. November 9th - primed ceiling and applied topcoat. Thought I was finally done with everything that involved dust until I looked up and noticed spots I missed. November 12th - hunted down all the missed spots. November 13th - Mixed up last of topcoat paint - thinning with water swirled in the original 5 gallon bucket to pick up more pigment. Sprayed all missed spots - ended up with less than 2 tablespoons of paint left. November 14th - Found another missed spot!!!! Will need to buy more paint. November 15th&16th - Think I really finished painting. Floor has more paint drops and spray drops than I liked, but shy of taking four times longer it could be avoided. Build tables for computers and moved everything onto them. Main Web and Mail server won't reboot. November 17th - Spent most of the time working on www.seaplace.org, some time cleaning the floor. Water tested the isolation tank and coral grow out tank. Found one spot in back where topcoat is thin on duct work. Will need to touch that and some spots on the walls up. Coral grow out tank has large leak where some patch acrylic must have popped out. Can't find chip, will need to patch some other way (epoxy?). Isolation tank looks solid. November 18th - Isolation tank still looking good. Finally got mail and Fishroom running on www.seaplace.org. Working on web next... Updated this journal. November 19th - Applied 2nd coat of Rustoleum Tan Basement Epoxy to public viewing area. Used 2 gallons and it LOOKS GOOD! Spent too much time attemping to clean the area before hand - the Epoxy simply covered over everything. It was worth scrapping off the drops of paint, and vacumeing, but that would have been just fine. The washing and scrubbing to try and get the paint overspray off was wasted effort. November 20th - Its starting to get exciting. Spent three hours with Kevin (next door neighbor) considing lumber availability and dimension issues. Also started taping out the actualy layout on the floor (squaring the front and sides, etc.) and building models of the corners. Its going to be tight. I have 12' 3" wall-to-wall and will use it all. In order to fix a 6 foot primary viewing window and (2) 3' windows with 2x6 walls it appears I will have to design a shared corner structure. Need more tape of different colors to help visualize - its down to inches and fractions now, we need to get it right before I order the glass. November 21st - figured out corners, taped floor, figured and counted 2x6 requirements. Patched coral grow out with mini-fiber thickened System Three Epoxy in place of missing chip. November 22nd - Purchased lumber (see cost document for details), hauled downstairs (about 5 hours just to buy and haul it all). Water tested Coral Grow Out - patch holding, but previously busted rim leaking - no big surprise. Put a thin layer of Marine goop on the rim. Built frame for curing (6) sheets of Advantech at a time - but I'll never be able to load an unload into the frame by myself without rigging something, so... figured out how to rig some sliding rails but need some more lumber and some pivot bolts - a project for tomorrow. Think I'll go to bed early (like 10:30pm) tonight: its been a physically intense day. November 23rd - Pretty much a day of rest. Rather sore from yesterday. Did another round (or two?) of water testing the Coral Grow Out - getting closer but shattering the rim when I brought it over is complicating things. November 24th - Water test of last night patches appears to be holding. Built rigging for using the drying rack. Loaded the rack - took awhile to work out all the kinks (and bumps!) in the system. Sanded, and applied the first coat to the six sheets of Advantech subfloor (a resin based chipboard). It sanded quite nicely with 80 grit on my belt sander - easily as smooth as an "A" sanded plywood and I can do so to both sides for the inner walls. Its getting exciting now: After over 4 months of prep work, constuction is actually starting! Order some of the water purification items from Cole-Palmer. November 25th - Long day. Applied another coat (12 oz - 8 System III resin, 4 of System III medium hardener) to all 6 boards, did all my touch up painting, including the shelf supports, then fiberglassed all 6 boards. The 6oz cloth is easier to work with then the 4 oz I used on Zilla II - but wasn't cut straight - that took a few boards to figure out. Trimed the end straight and fought it a lot less. The fiberglass cloth does snag on EVERYTHING, so still takes a little care. The rubber smoother recommended by System III worked real well. Finished about midnight. Sent note to glass company starting that ordering process. Fiberglass took 24 oz of mixed epoxy per sheet just to wet it out. Novenber 26th - Trimed bottom sheets, flipped, and applied single coat of epoxy to bottom of sheets (not really needed, but figured the extra protection just in case water does come into contact wouldn't hurt). Went to work and saw the Star Wars Holiday Special - it really is as bad as they say. Layed 1/2" Owen's Corning pink sheeting on flow and created silicon barrier around the edge to prevent any spilled water from going underneigh. Will trim the corners in the morning. Made a hauling run (since I was in work anyway) and brought home the CO2 (stopped and got it swapped for a full one) 20lb canister and a couple hundred pounds of Carib Sea. The Carib Sea went in the bottom of the Coral Grow Out tank. Received the 1000W 5500K bulb from Champion and the filter containers from Cole-Palmer. Relatively short day - didn't really get started until I returned from the house run about 4pm. Oh, moved the Coral Grow out ned to the Refugia - this allows more complete access to the isolation tank, and should make plumbing easier. Figured water will need to gravity feed into the grow out tank, and be pumped from there into the refugia, which will gravity feed back into the main tank. Started search for Dow Corning 795 on web - sent two inquiries - one to Dow, another to a business supplier - both pleading. November 27th - Thanksgiving! Trimmed the corners off the bottom sheets of foam and laid the back three sheets of subfloor. Discovered what "Engineered for expansion" meant: Its 47.5 inches wide, not 48. Not a problem, the frame was going to overlap the plywood anyhow - it will just do it a bit more now. I'll still have 3-4 inches of surface contact with the bottom of the 2x6s. Glad I went 2x6 now, 2x4's would have been a problem. Came home and laid the front three sheets and cut the corners. New 60 tooth carbide tipped plywood blade is NICE! November 28th - Sent check to TBM Inc. for the Diamante glass. (2) 38.5 x 38.5 pieces at $536, (1) 74.5 x 38.5 at $1048, $175 crating, $420 shipping. Started work on base frame. Using this an an opportunity to try different blue/white mixes - none of it will show in the end. Yuck! Remember the lumber feeling damp when I brought it in - several pieces have growing mold on them now. Suspect I should cut a bunch tonight and get it spaced out and aired. DIMENSIONS - Layer 1 (in order they were cut) (and layer 3): Side edge (left and right): 162 1/2" from back end to tip (long run). Cut front at 45 degree thinking to bunt the side boards but that will result in a gap. Will cut 23.5 degree wedges to make it work out right. Shame that I did that to 4 boards. Oh well, worse things could happen. Update: Perhaps not. I need overlap for strength and the ability to cross-tie the board. I suppose a more clever cut would have been nice, but short filler wedges will do. Filler widges: 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" x 3.18" (calculated). Front edge: 82 1/4" inches (long edge), cut 45 degree inward. Front sides: 46 1/8" inches; 90 degree cut fits between side board and front edge. Back edge: 135 3/8" inside base boards. Paste mix: 1 oz blue, 5 oz white, 3 oz hardener, 5 heaping tablespoons of plastic mini-fibers - makes a light baby blue paste. Hmmm, 4.5 hours to cut, coat and paste in the two edge boards. Cut and coated layer 3 while I was at it for those boards as well. DIMENSIONS - Layer 2 (in order they were cut): Back edge: 146" 5/8th (outside wall (right) to outer edge of inside edge (left). Side eges: 162" 1/4 (long edge), cut 45 degrees outward. Note: Measured out to be 162" 1/2, but warpage is causing problems. If its short, filling the back 1/4" with epoxy paste is no big deal - it will be covered with plywood anyhow. Front edge: 93" (long edge), cut 45 degrees towards front. Front sides: 41" 3/4s (long edge), cut 45 degrees towards front. Of course, figured out how to cut layer 1 after I cut layer 2. Shame I cut layer 3 along with 1, but the front gets 5 layers, so it won't matter (only these notes will ever make anyone away of the patch wedges). Hmmm, too tight. Ended up triming a 1/4" off. NOTE: Check November 30th entry for some comments and corrections. Kevin came over, and we worked on the floorboard trim and reinstalled the trim around the bathroom door. November 29th - Karen, the kids, and Megan came over. Kristina was a big help, she mixed epoxy for me most of the night. Megan and Krystal unpacked books in the the book shelf (put in place with Karen's help). 2nd layer is on. Used the quartz microbeads for the first time to try and fill in the gap between the boards. Worked well, but 9 oz was too much - it set in the cup before I could use it all. Working with wood is "interesting". Every board has a personality. It took three of us to bend some into shape. Fortunetly the 3" 1/2 screws I'm using on this layer held it in place while the epoxy glue dried. November 30th - Just a little work today. Tacking the 3rd layer in with 2-3 short screws in preparation for marking out the vertical studs. Decided to fix up the front corner and not use the filler blocks. Cost me a 2x6x12, but that is a small cost to do it right. Also confirmed I'm a couple of degrees off (about 3/4" against the wall) on the right-hand side. Looks like the right side is just about that short. Strange, left and right were cut the same, but it explains the little bit of overlap I had with the chipboard base. Also discovered that using lumber to force lumber into shape is a lot easier than trying to do it by hand. Should have done that with layer 2. Steve Annen came by to visit - believe he now has a better idea of the true size of this tank. New front side walls - 57 inches (long edge of 45 degree cut) New left and right walls - 162" 1/4 cut inward (sort edge against real walls) New front wall - 78 inches (long edge of 45 degree cut) OK, time to figure verticle stud height: Advantech subfloor, ignoring the tongue which gets cut off, is 47" 1/2. Three layers of base boards is 3x1.5=4.5 plus a 1/4" or so of epoxy between the three layers. Top board is 1.5" (no epoxy), so we are at 6.25 inches of wood. Guess that means the studs need to be 41" 1/4 inches. Dang, wish I had done this earlier: 14 footers will yield 4 with virtually no waste. Thought about leaving a little room for the epoxy on the studs, but a 1/8th to 1/4" error on the side of the wall height would lend to a slight into inward tilt to the top rim - which would be perfect (so that any water on the rim drips back into the tank). December 2nd - yeah, I took an evening off from tank work. Back at it tonight though. Cut the top rails to match the layer 3 rails and figured out how the inner top rails will fit. Sorted through my crap lumber to find the best remaining boards to use. The rest will be cut as needed for studs. Figured and marked the side walls - 13 studs each, plus whatever we work out for the front corner. Back corner will have two spaced to allow attachment of the back wall with 3" 1/2 screws, plus one for doubled against the last to support the edge of the plywood. Will also double up the back wall corners, although the 2nd board will need to be added after the wall is up, so won't be screwed up through the bottom, just epoxied in place and to the adjoining board. Doubled up studs at the 8' plywood mark as well, working from the back of the tank forward. Guess that means all of the side walls will be the same light blue color and back walls will be strickly dark blue. December 3rd - cut studs: (38) at 41" 1/4 - enough to do the side walls and back wall, less the front corners. Pre-ran screws for left wall, not quite sure if I want to do this in one step or three (glue and screw and be done, or screw/align/screw, backoff, glue, reset screws). December 4th - Assembled right wall. Yep, thats it. Ok, not quite - I layed out the left wall and pre-screwed the top and bottom board. December 5th - Assembled left wall. Chewed up one of the special bits. Ran to Home Depot to get spares after panicing that my only spare would also die before the screws were homed into the epoxied members. Trimmed the tongue off of 6 sheets and applied first coat of epoxy (white) to what will be the outside walls. Yeah, thats the side no water SHOULD ever see, but I sleep better knowing its semi-sealed. Found out that the pigment had settled in the white epoxy - milk would have covered better than the first mix, but it was just a safety coat, so I don't care. Quit about 1am, kinda early for a Friday night work session. December 6th - flipping last nights sheets and apply light blue resin. Two coats today, fiberglass tomorrow. One safety break note: Its real easy to get dehydrated when working marathon hours on a project like this. Make sure you take regular breaks (when epoxying I break every two sheets - about once an hour) and drink a full glass of water. NOTE TO SELF: Do NOT glue and screw the wall boards until the front joints are figured out!!! OK, there are 5 layers of 2x6s on the front. To strengthen the corners, these layers will be extended from the side corners back to the first rib of the side walls. The corner (and front) ribs will be about 3 inches shorter because of this, but since those ribs are only tied to the topmost board along the bottom, the sides can be epoxy glued and screwed in without compromising anything. Suggest makeing this a two (or three) person effort to avoid wasting glue. December 7th - good day. Fiberglassed 6 sheets of subfloor, sanded and fiberglassed bottom of refugia. Glued and screwed side and back walls. Celebrated my Dads 81st birthday (really Tuesday the 9th) after I worked him for six hours. Shared some Glenlivet with him. December 8th - Removed support for side wall and it stayed put. Nice. Figuring front support: Wall Height: 47.5" Top Support: 1.5" Glass: 39.0" (includes gap for silicon gasket) Bottom Support: 7.0" (Total left to work with) First three layers: 4" 5/8th Amount left: 2" 3/8th. Layer 4: 1" 4/8th Layer 5: 7/8th minus about an 1/8th for 2 layers of epoxy. Think the best bet will be to substitute a layer of 3/4" plywood (not subfloor) for layer 4 and use a full thickness 2x6 for layer 5. December 9th - Bought 6 more sheets of Advantech. John Lemon and Joh Fernau came over and helped move them downstairs, and the recently coated sheets into the aquarium area. Played with moving the refugia behind the bathroom: looked good, simplified some things, made electrical and plumbing tough though (mostly with the sand filter and associated water and electrical things). Siliconed side walls into refugia. December 10th - Concerned that I'm blowing through epoxy - mostly in glue. Ordered another $500 in stuff from Systems 3 - 7.5 gallons epoxy parts, more cloth, more minifibers, more tint. Took night off and caught up on Enterprise episodes. December 11th - working on remainder of front frame. Strangely hesitant - guess wrong moves here are starting to make me cautious. Called TBM Glass after I checked last night and saw that my check had been cashed. They called back and expect to delivery by the 17th. That means the 20th is glass move day - great, the last weekend before Christmas. Finding help ought to prove interesting. Hmmm, sanded the bases, used a scrap of epoxied Advantech, and measured the right side at 38" 3/4 and the left at 39". Suppose the fiberglassed adds a tad, but it feel like I should plane off about 1/8th - 3/16th of an inch. Sure hope the glass is accurate. Ribs will be 39" long. Hope the top matches, but honestly its not that critical that it does. Ah! Planed everything flat (exactly 1.5" thick) and now its 39" on both sides. Must have had a bow in the one side piece of wood. OK, going to take an 1/8" off for glue space. That looks nice - good sharp edges, except the top board won't be. No biggie. Top board can be planed it temporary construction indicates it needs to be. After planning, I changed cloths and epoxied one side of the Advantech that I'm going to cut into strips. Will coat the other side tomorrow (morning?). Also did the bottom side of the top layer of the bottom front in prep for glueing tomorrow or Saturday. Reminder: Don't glue the last layer until the studs are tied in. December 12th - Misc. night. Glued the final back two ribs into the back wall. Glued the Advantech spacer on the front edge. Used my corner clamps to epoxy and screw the front glass ribs to the bottom frame board - upside down. Didn't measure the gap at the open end and have a couple inch problem I'm going to have to force the wood to correct - corner brackets were close, but not that accurate over the ~4 feet. December 13th - Decided to make the top front beams a hybrid of previous layers. That means I have to scratch the front beam I already cut and modify the side ones - but it will both be easier to build and look better. Shopped 'til I dropped today (literally, fell in the snow fall we are having). Check cost sheet for chemicals cost bought today. Should get another Calcium Chloride next time I'm up at Home Depot - only bought enough for first 5000 gallons. Had an idea of the bumping water flow rate through the sump - route the lift tube supply via the bottom of the sump. This will aid as a dispersion zone for kalkwasser and CaCO3 drips as well as initial salt mixing. Chatted with a manager at Home Depot, got him excited, and he is going to work on getting my the Tropical Play sand (3 pallets) and 795 Silicon. Should know on Monday if he can pull it off. Sorted and placed the interior sheets today - not attached, just put in place to get a feel for it. Put the top front beam on the front glass frame, glued in the side bottom pieces since no ribs screw into it. Siliconed the side walls into the Refugia after trimming their bottoms to fit. December 14th - Half day. Krystal and Karen came over for a few hours after Christmas Tree shopping was complete. Krystal worked on painting the studs, Karen helped cut the side and back walls to shape and size. I finished the painting later that night. December 15th - Ripped the lumber for the glass frame. Amazing how boards warp when this is done (suspect its pre-existing stree in the boards that the other fibers were holding in shape - when cut free from them, the natural warpage shows). Basically got ready for epoxying the front and front-side glass frames together. Got slightly diverted by some Mailman (mail list software on Seaplace) problems that needed fixing. December 16th - Bosses Christmas party - no work done. December 17th - Epoxyed glass frame in place. Started to work inner wood frame. Water tested Refugia - its got about 2/3rd full before the far end seam popped at the bottom - acrylic was just to flexible to hold and will need to be reinforced. At least I know water will eventually work its way to the floor drain now that I dammed it up with the tank. Cleaned up work area as well. Critically low on plastic mini-fibers, sure hope the resupply order some soon. Oh, glass arrived at Air-Masters today! December 18th - John Rundquist came over and helped. He removed the sealant on the Refugia and we resealed it. It will require some additional bracing we will work on Saturday before the next water test. Glued a few more pieces of the glass frames together, but with thin glue (only 2 tablespoons of plastic mini-fibers instead of 5). Out of mini-fibers, wondering where the ordered stuff is. December 19th - Supplies Arrived! Finished left side, ran out of clamps to do right side. Cleaned up in preparation for the glass crew coming tomorrow morning. December 20th - Seasl and Monsanto folks arrive to help with the glass. John arrives, packing isn't impressive, but I suppose TBM knows what it was doing. All sheets down stairs, no injuries! Uncrated - AHHHH, ITS PRETTY! (and there are no extra pieces!). John sticks around and works on support frame for refugia. I run to Home Depot and pick up some 5/16th lag bolts to use as supports and to replace the 1/4" lag bolts previously used (I didn't like them not "grabbing" when I installed them). Water test refugia and it immediatly starts leaking. Chip, pry, pull, and use telekinesese to remove a large part of the Marine Goop. Fill gaps with epoxy this time and will then Marine Goop over it. Oh, while the group was over, we fit tested the glass. Left and Center panels will be fine. Right panel is too tight, I need to sand down the board. The right corner is a mess - its about a 1/2" off verticle and things are starting to show up - like the plywood side panel matching the bottom but having a 1/2" gap at the top. Guess thats what Epoxy putty is for. Hung the 1000W fixture over the refugia and tried out the 1000W Hamilton bulb. Nice and bright white. Will play with the AgroSun later. Sanded the tops of the walls flat. Ready to build them tomorrow when my Dad comes over. Chip the cured glass frame clean so the glass won't encounter anything. Sanded some of the front wood flat until I gave up with the belt sander. It hasn't worked right since I lost it and it fell on the floor. Got the bright idea of banging it REAL good with a rubber mallet - kind of like it fell from the other direction. Figured it was a "no loss" activity, I was going to have to replace it anyhow. Surprise! That seemed to free up whatever was binding and causing the grief (belt loose or wandering a lot). Built the final right glass frame. Played with the AgroSun - definetly not as white, but suspect it will do. Played with the refugia seem some more, after the Epoxy hardened up a bit. Sanded down all the support ribs in preparation for putting the wall up, sanded down the front walls as well. Painted (with a 1" brush) the glass frames. Plan on putting another coat on tomorrow, then glue in the spacers. December 21st - sore today. Worked from 8am until 1:30am yesterday. Started work on inner brace: Left side - 145" 1/4 (short side). Oops, make that 145" 3/4 and remember to measure to the OUTSIDE of the plywood next time. Back wall - 122" 3/4 - Hmmm, doing the back wall first is going to make this easier. Water tested Rufugia - side closest to main tank leaked. Ripped out the Marine Goop, filled will epoxy, and resealed with Goop later in the evening. Reminder: Do NOT ever attempt to user Marine Goop to bridge a gap greater than about 1/32". It just doesn't work well. Always fill, then seal. Built left side wall but didn't screw it in. Considering the sequence of this and may modify things a bit (like putting the back wall in first). Put final coat of epoxy on inner glass frame wall, waited a few hours, and added spacers (1/4" pieces of rubber cut from a 2" PVC rubber joiner). December 22nd - Talked with Ron at Home Depot: a SKU and shipping cost for the sand is expected in a day or two. Ron may also be able to track down the epson salt for me. Expect to hear back on that at the end of the week. Water tested Refugia. Still some leaks around one joint - frustrating. Got about 5 inches of water in it this time before the leaks showed up. Chipped out a bunch of stuff and re-epoxied it. Kev came over - hung back wall. Sized left wall - added support beam. Gee, think we are going to get all three walls up - some 30+ cups of epoxy glue later. (Ended up taking about 30 cups, 24 beers, and 8 hours) December 23rd - Light day, spent most of it with Dad. Hauled the glass packaging crate parts over to his house - he will use with his train sets. Pulled the support beams out, had to break a few from the epoxy - generally that left wood attached. Water tested Refugia. Got about 8 inches this time - this is no longer fun. NOTE: Never try and mix using Marine Goop and Silicon - the two just don't get along. Stripped out as much silicon as I could and replaced with Marine Goop. Will see tomorrow... Left side - 146" 3/4. December 24th - more Refugia water testing and patching. All I want for Christmas is for the Refugia to hold water... Tour out more silicon and replaced with epoxy. Played around a bit with the lift tubes. I'm going to have to modify the plans - if I install along the back way, it would be permanent and I'd never be able to service them. Bad plan. Thinking about having them along the side walls of the sump - still opening into the RCSDs - but aimed at a 45 toward the front. December 25th - Christmas day. Cleaned up, removed beer cans and mixing pots. Yet another water test of Refugia. Down to pinhole leaks - tank holds 480 gallons (to within 1/2" of top). Drained, wet/dry vac'ed it, and several hours later resealed all (4) edges, both bottom edges (after ripping out more silicon and replacing with epoxy), and both long edges (just in case). Could have used another (8) large clamps today. As is I used the (4) I have and installed the top front inner support bars. Applied first tape (4") along the bottom. Should have done the sides as well, but didn't get to it. Mixed micro-balloons into remaining epoxy and filled about 2/3rds of the top. OK, didn't like the sound of that and it was only 11pm, so taped the walls, and filled the rest of the top. December 26th - Epoxied left and right front base pieces on in the morning, and center base piece in the evening (limited by number of clamps). Water tested Refugia. A few drips left - not sure if they are real or just water being squeeze out - will leave filled overnight to see. They were real. Lord of the Rings day. Refugia still leaking. Finished prep for installing the glass. Put 6 inch tape on walls, prepared base for 6 inch tape. December 27th - INSTALLED THE GLASS TODAY!!! (Karen, Krystal, and Kristina helped). Drained Refugia and had Kristina check all seams with the air hose. She found several leaks which have now been patched. The largest was in the old piece of the tank, which I hadn't paid much attention to (hey, it USE to hold water!). Figured I needed a little over 16 tubes, just touched tube 18 of the 20 I bought. Had I figured the trim out (see next day's post), I could have made it with 17 easy. Oh well, its time limited stuff (mine expires in May 04 - about 5 months). I use the rest on other projects. December 28th - tinkered on the refugia - had to cut out a bubble on one of the patches and let more water out. Decided to trim the silicone flush with the glass rather than try and make nice pretty rounded seams. This is easier, and maximizes the amount of glass viewable. Trimmed some of the silicone and found it very uncured under the top 1/8th in or so - no wonder they say that 795 silicone takes a week to cure... Hopefully having the Refugia filled will help since I believe it is humidity cured. Started building the water filtration system. Want to get it done for filling the refugia. December 29th - Dad came over, trimmed, and sanded 6 sheets of Advantech for me. That will help, all I need to do now is epoxy it. Only made 3 runs to Home Depot today - almost a record low for days I got out. Regarding the tank: put another layer of Marine Goop on all the areas Kristina identified as leak sites in the refugia. Build the water filtration system and almost have it plumbed in - ran out of 1/2" copper. Did put the water softener bypass into the main and layed out a lot of the pipe leading to the water filtration system. Was pleasantly surprised when both the solder joints not only went in without a fuss but are not leaking! The 1" ball valve holding back the city water supply is holding as well - figured it was time to not press it and go to bed. Oh, called System 3 and confirmed the order - asked for the minifibers to be 2nd day'ed. Wrote PacificGardenSupply about 2 more L3 1000W systems (have not heard back). Ordered another 1000W 5500K bulb from Champion. Doesn't seem like much, but that filled the day. December 30th - Mostly worked on the copper plumbing. Have water to the filtration. 26 joints and NONE leaked! Attempted to build a carbon filter out of a Instant Ocean bucket. Worked fine while flushing the carbon into the sink, but the couple of pounds of backpressure when pumping the water up to the ceiling and over to the refugia caused it to leak. Went to the old house and packed up a bunch of the filtration, including the old carbon filter. Working that now. Did start processing the 6 remaining sheets of Advantech. Old carbon filter refreshed with new carbon, hooked up, and working. Refugia filling with filtered water. December 31st - One last leak in the Refugia, Kristina thinks she found it. Patched and started to refill at 8pm. Cut the top board (rough, not trimmed) for the tank. Gave a tour to Ron next door. Washed equipment brought from other house. Coated 4 or the 6 remaining sheets with a 2nd coat - the other two were scheduled to be cut up and were. Ordered (2) more 1000W fixtures from Pacific Garden Supply. Started work (really just got Karen to clean up the corner) on mixing tank - need another dozen 2x4s. Am going to make this minimal - 2x4 based on 24 inch centers - if it holds, Z3 should be demonstratably overbuilt - just like I like it. Extended lamp cord on existing 1000W and it still worked!!! Played around with my new AMD 64 (ok, so not every minute of my life is tied to the tank!). January 1st - Just for the record, the tanks interior dimmensions are 11'2" by 15'3" by 3'11.5". Refugia had one final leak that was obvious (when I released the water the last time, the vacumn sucked in the sealant, leaving a nice gaping hole). First Salt! Refugia filled. Moved gravel from other house, circulating now. Added some macro algae in the wee hours of the morning. January 2nd - went and got the last of the gravel. Epoxied top support board all the way around the tank. Used 14 liters of epoxy resin and over 10 quarts of plastic mini-fibers. Made it up in 3 liter batches with a mixer on my drill. Only even consider doing this if: 1) You need a lot of resin and can spread it quickly (like 3 quarts in 20 minutes or less), and 2) You don't mind getting epoxy on everything - I had to wash my hands with cleansing soap FIVE times to get the bulk of it off. Used a plastic squeege to spread the resin. January 3rd - worked on filtration systems (sand and DE filters mostly) January 4th - sanded and cleaned up. Inside ready for more epoxy. January 7th - put the 6" tape down on the floor and worked the corners in prep. for taping them. I took a couple of days off of tank work - just couldn't bring myself to mix another batch of epoxy after the marathon. January 8th - came home to a dripping refugia. *sigh* Went to bed. January 9th - starting to like working with microballons - they thicken, but still allow for a smooth finish. Used several batches on the front inner bottom glass seam and the frame walls. Used 6.5 liters of epoxy on floor (a nice thick coat. Normally 12 oz per sheet gives a good covering, this was equivalent to a bit over tripple that.) Still have the back corner seams to do, and around the glass, but can work that at the same time as the internal partitions. Another base coat on the bottom would be a good idea after the internal base boards are down. January 10th - Went to FIRST (NASA Robot Challenge) kickoff with Kristina and Krystal. Came home and put the 4" tape down around the base and the front windows. Can't believe that took the better part of 6 hours... Not looking forward to doing the 6" tape, but once done, the main tank is SEALED! January 11th - Built the frame for the mixing tank today. Started to layout the internal partitions. FYI, the "long" inside dimension of the tank is a bit over 77 inches. Thats roughly half the way back along either outside wall. OK, have a working plan for the sump and surge device, and figured out where the 1000W lamps go. Took a fair number of photos today. Mom had a nice outfit ruined when she heeded an urgent call for another pair of hands. Epoxy simply does NOT wash out... January 13th - Kevin came over late. While showing him the drips, I noticed a new bucket installed a few hours earlier was full! We spent a few hours filling everything that will hold water. Managed to get about 3/4s of the water out (about 5-6" left). January 14th - Did some shopping. Karen's birthday now taken care of (its Sunday) and bought two 4' long 1.5" aluminum angle pieces. January 15th - Hauled another drum downstairs and filled it and a half-drum with water - refugia is as empty as it can get with gravel in it. Ripped out the leaking edge support beam and it was obvious that the seam had ruptured again. Tried sealing the inside and outside with 795. Installed 1.5" angle aluminum and shot some more 795 between in and the plexi to fill the gaps and perhaps allow less flex. While the tank was low, pounded the other piece of angle aluminum into the other end. Wonder if I broke any seams on that side... January 16th - Busy evening: Refugia didn't hold, drained and wet-dried around ends in order to attempt to patch with last of 795 (yes, I broke the seam on the other end). If this doesn't work will order 6 more tubes, rip all the inner seam out, and reseal. Roughed out the top, eliminating the bulk of the excess. Rigged sump pump with 1.24" hose - works a LOT faster now but the hose is very heavy when filled with water. Applied 6 inch tape along remaining seams - basic taping is now DONE! Stopped at home depot and picked up (8) 2x4s. Made PVC list for circulation pumps after doing a bit of measuring. January 17th - Woke up and realized I could glue some end caps to the bottom 2x4 of the lift tube area and use them as loose sockets for the end of the air pipes. Also realized that venting the RCSDs directly into the sump is going to create a space problem on the lift tube wall - will play with that. Previously realized a siphon problem might also be created. May go with a short "up, twist, and over" approach. Refilling refugia from isolation tank. Easiest place to get a large amount of water. If its still holding after I get back from HD, I'll put the rest in. Update: as of 9pm, its holding! Added a cross brace using the 3/8th stainless rod that came with the light mover over Zilla 2. Wrapped it in 1/2" id vinyl hose for protection and used two 8" eyebolts and some fender washers to pull it all together. Cut the lift tubes, and drilled the street elbow for the lift tubes. Started work on the internal partitions. Note: raised the 1000W fixture about 6 inches and still don't have any spilled light problems. This is cool - more of the refugia gets light now. Home Depot received my sand, but it was just plain stuff. They are going to try again, and I've written customercare@homedepot.com to see if I can get a SKU. January 18th - Started working on the remaining Advantech: Applied first coats to the flip side of four sheets. Think I'm going to need four more - the scrapes are not going to be enough. Applied 1st of 6 cover coats on main walls. Took (7) 12 oz cups to make one coat of light blue. Thinking along the lines of getting the cover coats, and support beams coated this week, as well as some of the required lumber. Assembling next week and working final supports. Have to build a prototype surge using the next design just to see if it works - it will be too much of a pain if it doesn't. Built a prototype surge device out of an old paint bucket and some 1" PVC. It should by dry by the morning and ready to test. Reworked the self-restarting syphon - trying to get a higher flow rate so that I can recirculate water between the refugia and coral grow out tank. Applied 2nd coat to the Advantech - ready to be fiberglass clothed tomorrow. January 19th - Applied 2nd coat to walls January 20th - Fiberglassed two sheets of Advantech - into next order of fiberglass cloth now. January 21st - Applied 2nd coat to walls January 22nd - Fiberglassed two sheets of Advantech. January 23rd - Hung the (2) L3 1000W fixtures. One of the ballast had an easily fixed wiring problem that caused it to pop GFIs (and breakers). Tested new design of RCSD - it DIDN'T WORK! (Good thing I tested!) Kev laid the tape on the wall so that I can epoxy it. Trimed the epoxied tape around the glass. Counted required sheets three times, need a total of 8, have 5, will buy 3 more tomorrow. January 24th - Bought another 3 sheets. Cleaned up today, spent some time with my parents. Rolled 3rd layer of blue on walls. Trimmed one sheet of Advantech. Started filling gap between wall and edge with microballoned white epoxy. Filled screw holes while I had putty mixed. Worked on plumbing up the old ETS skimmer to the refugia. Built Dad's new PC and started downloading patches to bring it up to date. January 25th - Brought ETS skimmer online. Cut Adtantech for the side walls of the internal partitions. Applied one of two additional coats on inner wall members around where the lift tubes will go (these will form a box 3.5" inches wide - I wouldn't be able to paint inside after building). January 26th - Applied 2nd coat to inner walls members of internal partition. January 27th - Came home to a bit less water in the system. Aquaclear developed a run-down the front. I had anticipated this as a possibility and made sure the feed pump would only allow a 20-30 gallon loss. Bit of a mess, but it will dry. January 28th - Came home to a bit more water on the floor - the isolation tank sprang a leak around the lower seam. Fortunetly it was just tap water that I was using to test the new, failed, RCSD design. Drained and will seal all the welds with Marine Goop - that should take care of it. Will drain down the coral grow out and seal it too - just to be safe. Decided to two-night the lift tube walls since I was by myself. Epoxyed the 2x4s to the outer walls tonight, will glue on the inner walls tomorrow when I won't have to fight 2x4s falling over. January 29th - glued cover sheet on after trimming to size. January 30th - Ordered a few more gallons of epoxy, rollers, and minifibers. Came home and worked on lift tubes. Came up with an alternative to blocking down the top of the RCSDs - instead I'll just block the inside and epoxy it into place. I'll have to remove the lift tubes to tape the top to the wall, but thats OK. Seriously thinking of just starting to glue things down and into place. Will sleep on that... January 31st - epoxy glued lift tube walls into place. Trimmed angled front boards of RCSD and calculated volume - ~5'4" average front-to-back, 3' side to side, and 2'4" from top to openning in bottom. Comes to 275 gallons each - a bit over 5% of the tank volume - which should be fine. Going to cut a 6" high hole 4"s above the base and 4"s from each inner side. That should be plenty for the surge to use. February 5th - Took several days of to deal with a work issue. Applied 2nd coat of epoxy to painted walls tonight. February 6th - Kevin (next door neighbor) came over, and as usual, we got a lot of work down while drinking a lot of beer. All remaining 2x6 lumber should now be cut to size. Remaining Advantech has been relocated to the epoxy room. Support blocks have been custom made for between the pillars holding the glass. Fixed my belt sander so that its actually collecting dust again, and sanded the top and inner ledge. Not bad for one nights work. February 7th - Applied 2 coats of epoxy to three new Advantech boards and one coat to the already fiberglass board. Only need to fiberglass one more - the other two got in the 500g mixing tank, so epoxy only should be fine. Used a 3.5" roller and 1" paintbrush to paint the front grass inside areas (all covered with fiberglass tape, but needing some fill coats), the underneigh of the inside ledge, the painted walls and inside walls of the surge device, and placed another coat on the top plate. Fingered some epoxy into the lift tube air holes. Put first coat on both sides of the boards cut yesterday. February 8th: Todo list: Remove lift tubes to prevent painting them in. Get two more coats on the remaining Advantech. Water test the isolation tank (Kristina pached yesterday). If three hours are left, apply another coat of epoxy to underneigth ledge and to top plate. Should try and remember to add another coat to the cut studs after working each coat on the Advantech. OK: Lift tubes are out. One coat made it onto the Advantech. Found another leak in the isolation tank (compressed air is SO COOL!). Did get another coat on one side of the studs. Had to do Incentive awards for work that took most of the evening. Upgraded this machine to dual 80gb drives though in between things. February 12th - long week at work, just piddled (water test isolation tank, little things like that) during the week. February 13th - worked with Kevin and glued in the back partition walls. Also coated some more Advantech in the back room. All the ribs are a little long since we didn't cut down the first ones - no biggie, rather long than short. February 14th - Valentine's day. No work done. February 15th - Worked on two remaining sheets of Advantech. Put a cover coat of epoxy on back partition walls after sanding away the bumps. Coated edges of ribs. Filled gaps in RCSD ribs to make them air tight and epoxied first layer of tape over front joints of back partition walls. Fiberglassed last sheet of Advtantech. Bought a new timer for the Refugia - old ones didn't keep time! Isolation tank needs foam or something to support it, the bottom is now leaking! February 16th - Glued and clamped in the top bars on the RSCDs. February 17th - Brought home the Epson salt from El Mel. They got it from the greenhouse store in Earth City (Hummert?). UPS grade - good stuff. Removed the clamps from the RSCD top bar and started playing with the back wall bar. February 18th - Played around with the RCSD plumbing a little. Bought a sheet of foam for below the Isolation tank. February 19th - Glued two support ribs in on the RCSD sides and the top bar across the back wall. Applied first of two fill coats to the double sided sheet of Advantech. February 20th - Friday night! Kevin next door, beer, and a lot of things done. Put 2nd filler coat on last sheet of Advantech before Kevin came over. RCSD Pipe lengths: Through the wall - 10" Up from T - 6.5" Over the top - 11" Down on the inside - 14.5" Bottom of U - 4" Up on the inside - 20.5" This results in an inside loop 24" deep for 24" of water movement. Did some math. Main tank is about 3200 actual gallon of capacity. Each RCSD is about 224 gallons of surge per cycle, for about 7% each. Oh, by the way, the total tank capacity filled to the rim is 4900 gallons plus the 650 in the coral grow out and refugia. Kevin and I built one side of the RSCD pipeing and all but the U of the other side. Cut the top of the RCSDs as well. February 21st - Went to Home Depot and picked up the 4" 90s I was short to finish the RCSDs. Sanded the top rim, along the bottom of same, and rough sanded the corners for the top plate of the RCSDs. Bought a detail sander ($29) to get the corners I couldn't otherwise reach. Brandy wanted to know if I would be back later? (making way too many trips to Home Depot). Checked out Isolation tank - pushed it on its side and the bottom popped right off - NOTE: GE Silicon 2 should NOT be used on acrylic - it simply doesn't work well. Cleaned up the seam, put a peice of foam under the tank, and resealed with Dow 795. Concerned about the other layers, but will deal with that if they leak again. Added a splash gard to the output of the ETS skimmer - should help protect the 1000W fixture. Glued support beams to the inside of the left RCSD. Used some scrapes as temporary vertical supports - will knock those out later tonight. Worked all the corners of the RCSDs with the detail sander. Shaped the cover plates a bit per Kevin's markings. Cut and soldered in the 1" water feed for the backflush barrel - great Saturday project while waiting for the left RCSD beams to set. Note: The big brass nut on a gate valve actually turns. NO! not the packing nut, the other, bigger one. Valve leaked at that seam until I got a small turn on that nut (was happy to discover that - I was afraid one of the solder joints was leaking, but they all held). Thought about gluing up right hand RCSD beams, but realized I'd have to get up at 3am to pull out the supports or they would be glued forever. Almost overflowed the coral grow out tank. Forgot to turn off the fresh water supply after I re-pressured the non-soft-water line used for the nights plumbing project. February 22nd - Glued right hand RCSD beams. Sized and cut the last 2 sheets of Advantech and placed the sheets over by the mixing tank for later gluing. Tore out the drying racks. With Karen and the kids help, cleaned up the electrical room and gave the tank a full dusting and cleaning. Should be ready to put final coats on the support rim. Plan on doing one final coat to the walls just to pretty them up - will do so the day before I start adding water. Filled isolation tank to water test it again. Spotted water building up between the rings and drained it back down in the late evening. February 23rd - Applied 1st coat of epoxy to RCSD support beams, filled in gaps with thickended resin. Really tired, up late, and have a 6am meeting I need to be at work at tomorrow. Added (2) 5 gallon buckets of gravel from old refugia to new refugia. Contacted CaribSea (reefsand@aol.com) about substrate. Attempted to patch isolation tank seam (having to guess, its a slow leak) February 24th - Applied 2nd coat of epoxy to RCSD support beams, and other internal pieces of bare wood. Missed Ron at Home Depot, but he left a message that 2 pallets of Southdown were on their way. Refilled isolation tank. Noticed some questionable areas before going to bed. February 25th - finished filling all the gaps I could find on the inside of the RCSD. Applied final coat of resin to the side walls inside the RCSD. Drilled and 795'ed in the air vent bulkheads into the top plates. Decided to order some Carib-Sea mixed material (3 tons) and have different zones of substrate in the tank. This is enough to do everything, I'll have extra if Ron at Home Depot comes through. Isolation tank is still seeping water. February 26th - *!@#$%!@#!# The friggen refugia is leaking again. Dad came over to start work on the electrical room. Drained isolation tank. Going to have to finish mixing tank in order to have a place to hold the Refugia water. Suppose I should try and rip out the Marine Goop seals on the isolation tank and replace with 795. Thats not going to be easy. Ripped out the Marine Goop seals, not as bad as I thought - which is probably the root of the problem. Refugia drip has stopped??? Applied another coat of white resin (top and bottom of 12" support beam, drywall stripe, around glass). Used slow cure hardener which gave me plenty of working time. Started with 1.5 liters, added a 12 oz cup, then a 6 oz cup. February 27th - Refugia drips are still gone. Worked in electrical room and have one circuit done and another ready (once I replace a defective GFI). Epoxy paste patched a couple of knotholes found while painting and one gap. Cut and installed the bulkheads for the surface skimmers - installed the one new skimmer. Cut the overflow and epoxy pasted in the eggcrate support. Found and cut an appropriate size piece of eggcrate. Stopped in Home Depot and picked up a few electrical things. Slow cure epoxy is slow - it was slightly tacky this morning and still fingernail soft this evening. Flat surface is nicely glossy, but has a lot of small air bubbles (from rolling it on?). February 28th - Karen and the kids came by and we installed the top plates for the RCSD and glued the walls of the mixing tank up. I piddled in the electrical room - tightenign screws, testing sockets, etc. Kristina and I ran the extra water lines for the mixing tank and isolation tank (which Kristina tested and is still holding!). Refugia remains leak free. Spent evening putting whole-house water filtration in place (yeah, I know, it wasn't aquarium related...). February 29th - removed the concrete blocks we used to hold the RCSD tops down tight. Bought (6) sheets of drywall to start the electrical room with. Four inch fiberglass taped the RCSD tops and the mixing tank seams. Applied a heavy coat to the right RCSD top (it never got any fill coats). Spent some time fillng gaps in the mixing tank before I taped it. Cut and installed the fittings for the RCSD air pipes in the back wall of the tank. Ordered more fittings and bulkheads from AES as well as a Dynamaster air pump. March 1st - got home late after staying at the old house for an extra episode of Stargate and swinging by Home Depot to pick up brushes and chat with Ron. Southdown has supposedly shipped from Maine, ETA unknown. Did size and cut the 6" tape. March 2nd - Epoxyied on the 6" tape on all the RCSD seams and mixing tank seams. Belt sanded the top rim removing drip nubs and prepareing for the final top coat. March 3rd - Coated the top and bottom of the rim with its "final" coat. More fine bubbles than I like - wonder if thats a combo of the roller and the thinner #3 hardener. Carried a ton of salt downstairs - litterally: 1200 lbs of NaCl, 300 lbs of Epsom Salt, 500 lbs of Magnesium Sulphate, 100 lbs of CaCl, 40lbs of KCl, a box of borax and 10lbs of baking soda. Collected about 200 gallons of filtered water. Calibrated the flow rate of the filtration system to 1 gallon/minute. Calculated actual capacity of the mixing tank and marked the 500 gallon and 625 gallon water heights. March 4th - Continued collecting water - started filling mixing tank. Applied final top coat to all inside blue surfaces - just to make everything more or less one color. #3 Hardener definetly makes a thinner mixture - coverage is not as good, and bubbling occurs on flat surfaces. March 5th - Finished coating the inside of the sump. Vacumned tank. Continued collecting water (over 750 gallons so far). Ron as Home Depot recommended using the roller, then foam brushing the epoxy to eliminate the air bubbles. Tried that after sanding again, and so far it looks good. Morning will tell. Marth 6th - FIRST WATER!!! Pumped in 250+625 gallons after hauling home the Southdown sand and placing it in the front of the tank (and some in the refugia). Started placing the lift tubes in, but they are TIGHT. Foam brush trick seems to have done it. Hauling and loading sand (Thanks Ron Voschen at Home Depot - 4 months of effort to track it down from Maine) took most of the day. March 7th - Collected water while I slept. Added another 875 gallons this morning. That raised the water level 9.5 inches - including main tank and RCSDs, but excluding the sump. At 52x50x45 the sump has 500 gallons of capacity. So, about 92 gallons/inch wihtout the sump, a bit over 100 gallons per inch including the sump. Kev came over - he drywalled the base of the electrical room, I worked on the lift tubes. By the end of the night we had the blower rigged in and some minor circulation (lift tubes having to lift too much to really start moving the water). Added 300 grams of Stronium Chloride (just to add some salt). Kevin's Universal Auger (a conical stepped drill bit) was perfect for drilling the 1/2" PVC holes. They tapped out nicely. To lock them in place, one of us would dip the PVC cement applicator and hold it against a 1/2" PVC male adapter that had been started into the tapped threads, the other would quickly screw it into the 1.5" PVC manifold pipe. The screwing action nicely distributed the cement and seems to make a solid, air tight, connection. Figured ~4000 gallons of actual water for salt mixing purposes - we will run the tank a little low until the rest of the gravel is added and rock moved. March 8th - Got home about 15 minutes too late - water had overflowed through the open skimmer socket. Oh well, nothing the wet/dry couldn't handle. Added a low pressure gauge (automotive fuel pressure gauge) to the blower line - I'm right at 1.5 PSI which is perfect. Any more and I would have had to ream out the airline holes. Started cleaning up the epoxy area - the resin ate though any plastic is pooled on. Added all of the misc. salts and 7 bags of solar salt - need 6 more tomorrow but it was getting late. Tank has milked up compliments of the Southdown getting stirred a bit. March 9th - Tank temp raising about 2 degrees F a day. Now at 62F. Ordered (4) 800W titanium heaters from AES and (4) remote controllers. $220 plus 2nd day air for the eight components. FYI - AES Catalog claims 1500W will raise 1000 gallon 10F in 24 hours. Currently the tank is at 60F. If they arrive Thursday, perhaps I can have the water temp up by Sunday. No word on when the Carib Sea is going to arrive.a Ugh! $49 shipping. RIP OFF! BTW - AES didn't have the Dynamaster in stock, and won't for 4-6 weeks, so opted to hold the 2nd order with the bulkheads I need. Got them to split the order... Added rest of solar salt (13 bags + 20lbs). Worked on sand filter plumbing. Started up sand filter with DE, tested backflushing, left it running to try and clear tank (and warm the water). Out of circuits to plug things into!@! March 10th - got VERY VERY lucky today. Came home to a signficant puddle on the floor. Found the Drain port on the Diatom filter was dripping. Turned things off, drained the filter, and prepared to unscrew the Drain port fitting when it simply came apart. Apparently I had cleaned the fittings, but never glued them. Had they popped, I would have lost half a tank of water. Fixed that! Also upgraded the power cord on the sand filter pump from 16 gauge to 14 gauge - its no longer getting warm. Installed (2) more circuits in the electrical room (left and right above workbench runs) - realized yesterday that I was out of places to plug things! March 11th - Heaters arrived. Drilled holes and used 1" rubber grommets to run the wires through. All (4) are active, although I'm now down to one free circuit (one of the two installed last night), and no more extension cords... Need to run two dedicated 20amp circuits for the heaters. March 12th - Friday night, but I have to leave for the usFIRST competition at 6:30am, so it will be a short one. Did start draining the refugia to repair it and moved some plants into the main tank. FIRST LIFE! Heaters are working well, tank is up into the 70s now. Oh, draining the refugia into the main tank. Figure all the bacteria should give it a good jump start cycling wise. March 13th - FIRST Competition. Went well (see: www.usfirst.org). Picked up (6) peppermint shrimp for the coral grow-out tank and (6) damsels to see what happens in the main tank. Did some electrical work. March 14th - Did electrical all day, have all the conduit for the tank run, and figured out the mixing tank arrangement. With Kristina's help, pulled all the wire. Replumbed the diatom filter with shorter hoses, but am now short two clamps. Karen drained the refugia, I wrapped that up with the wet/dry and resealed the one edge. Hope I have it this time. Have enough little critters in there that I'm going to have to add some water later tonight. Started taxes... March 15th - Came home to find 3 pallets of Aragonite sand awaiting me from CaribSea. Carried it all in. Looks like refugia is still dripping, but going to give it another night to see. Worked on circuits for heaters (had to wire the GFI's in), all (4) heaters now energized. Drained refugia and attempted to reseal it once again. March 16th - Spent way too much time at OfficeMax arranging for some deliveries on Thursday, didn't get home until after 8pm. Finished the wiring and suspect I'm still short outlets, but most of the extensions cords are no longer in use. (One still runs the lights over the coral grow out tank.). Added more water to Refugia and it started to leak. F**K it, added the rest of the Southdown sand that was already downstairs. Hopefully the sand will fill whatever little gap there is. That raised the water level enough to get the skimmer going, but the water level in the main tank dropped where I couldn't run the sand filter anymore. March 17th - I GIVE UP! I put out a "call-for-help" to SEASL and around work for this weekend. I simply need more hands working to be ready for the general tour on April 10th. March 19th - Wade Ramponi came over and we installed the PVC to the mixing tank and the 2nd RCSD piping. March 20th - Help Day! Mark Deany, Al Ware, and Dave Gores came over to lend a hand. Mark installed the 2nd electrical room workbench, pulled wires for the lights into the back room, lifted sand to Kevin in the tank, and helped unhook and then load the skimmer from the old house. Dave worked on the electrical for the mixing tank, lifted some sand (OK, 2 bags!), and helped with the skimmer. Al hauled a mighty amount of sand downstairs, and created and installed the lift tube backflow blocks on both RCSDS. Thanks All! March 21st - More help! Garry from SEASL, Wade, and Dad came over to help. Garry spliced wires and worked on drywall. Wade cleaned (thank you!) and took photos. Dad worked on sound insulating the electrical room and assembled a bookshelf. Garry, Wade, and I went to the old house and made a first pass on moving live rock. Karen and the kids followed home, cleaned, and hauled the rock down to me while I was in the tank. Mixed up a batch of salt water in my new mixing tank. March 22nd - pumped salt water. Worked until mid-night on misc. items. March 23rd - no clue. I'm sure I did something, but I'm entering this entry 4 days late. March 24th - Built computer desk in electrical room. Watched Finding Nemo. March 25th - Worked on plumbing up the Refugia drain, its all done. Worked on the kids computers a bit. Caught the blue damsel that made it into the sump via the (then) open 2nd skimmer pipe. Haven't seen it since. March 26th - Drilled Refugia with a 1.5" overflow which ALMOST is enough to keep up with the skimmer. Rearranged electric room and put the ballast where they belong. Bought a $26 2-gallon wet-dry for cleaning up after leaky pipes - thats a lot easier than hauling out the huge one. Cleaned the sand and DE filters and reseated the leaking hose on the DE output. Use of Magi-lube made putting the hose on a slide (ah, snap). March 27th - moved the leather coral and a few pieces of other corals and rocks. Plumbed 2nd 1.5 inch drain on the refugia - between the two it now easily carries the skimmer load. March 28th - Two trip between homes with Karen and the kids. All rock now moved and 11 fish moved. Tank is pretty well setup for now. Refugia continues to leak, now on the near-tank side *sigh*. Forgot to turn the lift tubes on last night and found the little blue damsel merrily swimming around this morning. March 29th - built a 12' platform for spanning the tank and used it to replace the light bulb over the tank with a socket adapter and a 0.05W night light. Platform will be rather handy when it comes time to mount the next row of lights (this week? Maybe...) Invited Home Depot employees over on April 17th. All the fish appear fine and are eating well. Water has cleared. Found a rivelet of water near the top of the refugia on one of the corner braces? Turned the skimmer off to see if the overflow is the souce of that water. If so, it should be easy to fix. Humidity control needs some work - when its about the same temp inside as outside, and its 100% humid (e.g. rainy weather) outside, dumping the humidty is a problem. Might go away when I bring more lights on and force the AC in the basement to run more. If not, guess its time to pick up another dehumidifier from Sears. March 30th - Added a half-dozen more fish from the old tank. Refugia not leaking - turned the skimmer back on to see if it was the cause or if the sand caused it to stop dripping. Steve Annen came over for a visit with his son. Weekend of April 3rd - all fish and rocks now in Zilla 3. Found skimmer leak - it was related to an elevated water level and a bad seal in the top corner joint of the refugia. Still leaking water along one side seam. April 10th - SEASL invaded! Meeting went well. Bought the next generation of fish at Marine Solutions (see livestock.jnl to details). Tank raised clowns are cute - believe this is the first time they have been in a tank this size (they are in the refugia). April 17th - Had home depot over. Store was crushed with people, lunch hours were cut in half, so no-one make it for lunch. Amber & Jyson, Monica, Melissa and family, John and family, Ron, Brandy and Jeff all made it over. I had WAY too much food. Hard to do the burgers right and give fish tours at the same time too. April 18th - piddled, figured out how I wanted to plumb the ball valves for the lift tubes. Refugia is still leaking about a gallon a day - may wait until my week off in June to fix, if we don't take a family vacation. Backflushed and stunk the house up. NOTE: Don't backflush the day or or the day before a tour. Play around with the spare hood putting the new liner in it. Should be ready to hang, but really need to get the PLC built and programed first. Help Kevin haul rock and chat for his wall. Built the WXP box for the PLC. April 19th - Added a large SS Clamp to the power box on the pole between the isolation tank and the coral grow-out tank. Plumbed the ball valves to the pair of lift tubes, labeled the power lines, and reversed the flow of the lift tubes. It will be interesting to see how the sand drifts. May 8th - Added 8 yellow tangs and 4 pacific blues to the tank, turned off the lift tubes to give them a chance to settle in. Skimmer and sand filter remain running. May 9th - Disaster! Came home after Mother's day and found lots of dead fish. Bodies found: 2 Blues, 5 Yellows - 3 of the new yellows are alive. Many missing fish. Female clown found dead. May 10th - Believe lift tubes are required to provide appropriate circulation with the deep sand bed. Found another Yellow and Blue body today. No sign of Coral Beauty, or male clown. May 15th - Established "Shopping list" for new fish: (12) Yellow Tangs (5-8) Pacific Blues (1) Male Naso (3) Flame Angels (1-3) Potter Angels (6) Black Spiny Urchins (1-3) Goldrim surgeonfish (Acanthurus nigricana) (1-2) Yellowfin surgeonfish (Acanthurus xanthopterus Valenciennes) (1-4) Orangeband surgeonfish (Acanthurus olivaceus) (1) Chevron Tang (Black surgeonfish) (1) Bluespine unicornfish May 28th - JustJoe to ship (12) Yellow Tangs and (3) Flames on Tuesday. May 23rd - Final count: lost 18 of 28 fish. Best guess is a low oxygen level due to turning the lift tubes off. Banded Branquillo died in isolation tank due to lack of biological filtration. That has now officially been fixed with the installation of two Aquaclear 500 filters today. May 24th - CaCO3 reactor on-line. dKH very low - like 7. Need to double it. Kalkwasser reactor would help, but need to rig a drip system for it. June - Many, many, attempts at sealing the refugia. Rebuilt it with aluminum angle iron side supports and used 795 for the main seals. Found a bad joint, found a bad seam, still leaks. Added the dozen yellow clowns and all three Flame angels from JustJoe. July 3rd - ripped out all of the questionable seam, used cleaner, and re-sealed with Marine Goop (two tubes). Added two large clowns, a golden header sleeper gobi, and a cleaner wrasse from Clayton. Adult Flame doesn't like any of the newcomers, but all the rest adore the cleaner wrasse. August 1st - Clowns are still alive! CaCO3 reactor has been online for a week now and hasn't blown through a tank of gas. Suspect locking the intake down into the refugia was the key (soo many pressures to balance). September 6th - Believe the clowns have graduated to permanent members of the tank. Did a fair amount of overdue work today - got in and planted the coral frag a won at the SEASL auction, scrapped and burned off the mushrooms from the right-hand rock with the nice coral and anemones, and rigged the Dophin 3600 pump up to provide a central upwelling and sump circulation.